April 23, 2007

The man with horns

Look at the picture at right. It's a portrait (I scanned it from the Swiss daily 24heures, I hope Steeve Iuncker, the photographer, won't hold that against me) of Etienne Dumont, a brilliant art and culture critic with the Tribune de Genève newspaper in Geneva whose writings I often read with delight -- if your read French, herea couple of his recent articles. I had heard of his physical extravagance, which beautifully matches his writing style, but I'd never seen the man.

The picture was made without using any computer graphics. Dumont is tattooed from head to toe; has plexiglas piercings on the nose and under the lower lip; a titanium ring on the left hand; rings of 70-mm (2.7 inches) of diameter on the earlobes. And two horns on his head, which he plans to grow bigger in the coming days -- by replacing the two silicon spheres currently inserted under his skin with larger ones.

In the accompanying story, by Marie-Claude Martin, published by 24heures and by the Tribune a few days ago, Dumont says that he got his first tattoo in 1974 and his body has been a work in progress ever since. He dismisses any psychological reading of his corporal transformation: "In the US, to justify their tattoos they often talk of spiritual quest; for me, it's just amusing". And he states: "Being an extravagant man gives me greater freedom".